At South Mountain in September 1862, the Army of Northern Virginia’s first campaign north was stopped before Antietam. After his victory at Second Manassas, Confederate General Robert E. Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland, camped around Frederick, and issued Special Order 191 dividing his army into five parts, including forces to surround Harper’s Ferry and Major General Daniel Harvey Hill’s command to guard the South Mountain passes. Union soldiers found a copy of the order wrapped around cigars, allowing General George B. McClellan to move against Lee while the Confederate army was divided. On September 14, fighting began at Fox’s Gap and Turner’s Gap and continued most of the day until Lee ordered a nighttime withdrawal. Farther south at Crampton’s Gap, General William B. Franklin’s Union VI Corps eventually broke a thin Confederate line, and General Howell Cobb’s brigade suffered devastating losses trying to hold the gap. Once Federal forces had cleared the mountain gaps, Lee recognized that his campaign could not continue, pulled back toward Virginia, and established a defensive line at Sharpsburg. After learning that Harper’s Ferry had surrendered, Lee ordered Jackson to Sharpsburg, setting the stage for Antietam on September 17, 1862, a draw that nevertheless ended Lee’s invasion effort and gave President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. On South Mountain, the Washington Monument was originally erected in 1827 by citizens of Boonsboro as the first completed monument dedicated to George Washington. Built of onsite granite over two days and initially without mortar, it became a popular meeting place and served as a signal station during the Civil War. After deterioration and an 1882 restoration by the Odd Fellows Lodge of Boonsboro, it again fell into ruin. The Washington County Historical Society bought the one-acre site in 1920 and deeded it to Maryland in 1934 for park use, and the Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the tower in its present form before its rededication on July 4, 1936.
